When a Saudi-backed consortium bought Newcastle in October 2021, Tottenham appeared likely to be one of the biggest losers from another financial superpower in the Premier League and the prospect of the ‘big six’ becoming a ‘big seven’.
Few predicted that Spurs and the rest of the top flight would feel the impact of Newcastle’s new ownership so quickly but, just 18 months later, they are in real danger of missing out on a Champions League place to Sunday’s opponents.
Ahead of the six-pointer at St James’ Park, Spurs are fifth, three points behind Newcastle but having played a game more, and defeat would be a hammer blow to their chances of returning to Europe’s elite competition next season.
Dropping out of the top four would be damaging for Spurs, potentially impacting their search for a new manager and ability to compete in the transfer market, as well as the future of Harry Kane.
Newcastle have spent more than £210million since the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), which is worth an estimated £700billion, bought out Mike Ashley, helping to catapult the Magpies from rock-bottom of the table to where they are today.
For Spurs and their chairman Daniel Levy, the situation is galling, particularly as Newcastle are one of two state-backed clubs currently above them in the table, along with Abu Dhabi-owned Manchester City. Spurs were among the clubs to lobby the Premier League to block the Saudis’ £305m deal, and Levy was conspicuous by his absence from St James’ Park for the first game of the Toon’s new era last season, albeit he had a convenient personal engagement clashing with Spurs’ 3-2 win.
For all his mistakes and misjudgements, Levy has transformed Spurs from a mid-table side to one of the most valuable clubs in the world over more than two decades, yet, in the blink of an eye, their spending power has been eclipsed by another rival.
Amid all the pressure on Levy from supporters, one of the most compelling arguments in the chairman’s favour is to imagine how much more successful Spurs might have been had the Premier League been governed differently, and oligarchs and states had not been allowed to buy English clubs.
The Newcastle game has the potential to feel like the start of a shift in the long-term balance of power between the clubs
As it is, however, the emergence of Newcastle as another force in English football only puts more pressure on Spurs to get their act together. Uncomfortably for Levy, Newcastle’s improvement this season has not been solely a result of big spending, but a victory for infrastructure and coaching, too.
Newcastle’s new owners quickly put in place the kind of football structure which is still absent at Spurs, who on Friday morning were left without a technical director as well as a permanent head coach after Fabio Paratici resigned his post.
Paratici's departure, which came after he lost his appeal against a 30-month ban from football, is ultimately the result of another of Levy's poor judgements and means the chairman is now back in charge of running the football side of the club - at least until he can replace the Italian, or Spurs' incoming chief football officer, Scott Munn, starts work in July.
By contrast, Newcastle have avoided the kind of top-down chaos which often follows a change in ownership and Eddie Howe has done a phenomenal job, even given the club’s resources. Only League leaders Arsenal have lost fewer games than Newcastle this season and they have the best defensive record in the League, testament to Howe’s fine work on the training ground.
If, or more likely when, they add more creativity and firepower to their solid platform next season, they will be an even greater force. Spurs, by contrast, are one of the most under-coached sides, largely due to a series of poor decisions from the top.
The appointment of Cristian Stellini as acting head coach until the end of the season is in danger of being the club’s latest costly mistake, with Antonio Conte’s former assistant under pressure to deliver an improved performance on Sunday after last weekend’s chaotic defeat to Bournemouth, the nadir of an already poor season.
Even with new UEFA rules set to come into force in the summer, which Levy has said will “effectively [create] some sort of wage control”, the bottom line for Spurs is if they cannot outspend Newcastle, they must be clever and better run. At present, they are neither, and Sunday’s game has the potential to feel like the start of a shift in the long-term balance of power between the clubs.
